


The Backup Plan

by MacBerjoin



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Headcanon, Hog's Head Inn (Harry Potter), Hogsmeade, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26584657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MacBerjoin/pseuds/MacBerjoin
Summary: Newt Scamander visits Hogsmeade to help a Hogwarts student learn about magical creatures, unaware that he is part of a much larger plan.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14





	The Backup Plan

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a missing scene and wanted it to be completely canon compliant. If you find any inconsistencies with canon, please let me know.

The dusty air inside the Hog’s Head Inn swirled as a patron opened the door to enter. He closed it quickly to keep the heavy snow from coming in, although he needn’t have bothered; soggy, dirty snow covered the entryway anyway. The bar keeper, barely noticing the newcomer, continued his business behind the counter. Though warm inside the Hog’s Head, the man kept his head covered; only the fringe of his red hair poked out from under his hood. Carrying a large case at his side, he scanned the room for a table.

He had only just sat down when he was approached by a portly man in black robes. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Newt Scamander!” the portly man exclaimed.

Newt looked up at the man who greeted him, but quickly averted his gaze. “Hullo, Professor Slughorn. How are you this afternoon?”

The portly man chuckled. “Newt, you don’t have to be so formal with me. I’m only ‘Professor Slughorn’ to my students, and I haven’t been your teacher for years! Please, call me Horace.” Uninvited, Slughorn sat down across from Newt.

Newt glanced up at the entrance to the Hog’s Head. Slughorn followed his gaze. “I’m sorry, are you meeting someone?” Slughorn began to rise from his seat.

“No, no,” responded Newt. “Well, yes, but you are welcome to stay until he arrives.”

Slughorn sat down again and made himself comfortable in his chair. He looked at Newt with a mix of pride and admiration. “You know, Newt, I always knew you’d turn out to be quite the extraordinary wizard. I mean that!”

Newt seriously doubted that was true. Throughout Newt’s time at Hogwarts, Slughorn had never paid Newt any amount of attention. Slughorn kept his focus on his Slytherin students, and as a former Hufflepuff, Newt stayed off Slughorn’s radar.

“In fact, if you don’t mind...” Slughorn pulled a large book out of his pocket. “…would you sign my copy of your book?”

Newt looked at the copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with his own name on the cover. While he considered the textbook to be one of his greatest accomplishments, the amount of attention he received from authoring it made him uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he opened the book and scrawled a quick inscription with a signature.

After closing the book, Newt hesitated before sliding the book back across the table to Slughorn. “I don’t suppose you always walk around carrying my book in your pocket?” he asked.

Slughorn wrung his hands. “Well, I….” He shifted in his seat. “I must admit that my presence here today is not accidental. As respected an establishment as the Hog’s Head is…” he glanced over at the bar keeper to see if he was listening. “…The Three Brooksticks is a bit more my style. Besides, I get to spend some quality time with my students there.”

Newt felt that Slughorn was avoiding his question, but he didn’t feel it needed pressing. He glanced at the door again.

Slughorn noticed and stood to leave. “Ah, yes, I’ll leave you to it then. I think I’ll head on over to The Three Brooksticks now. Today is a Hogwarts visit, after all; I’m meeting some students there. Much obliged for your inscription, and I wish you well on your travels!” Slughorn pocketed the book and crossed the room. As he reached the door, he looked back at Newt, smiled, and tipped his hat before exiting. Newt felt a chill as icy wind and snow entered the room briefly.

The door had scarcely been closed when it opened again for a much larger figure, which stumbled in awkwardly. Standing over ten feet tall, the figure stomped the snow off his boots before removing the scarf from his face. The cloak he wore revealed that he was a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts.

Despite his large stature, this was a boy of only 14 years old. He brushed the snow off of his wild, dark hair, and looked around the room.

A huge grin appeared on the boy’s face as he spotted Newt at a table, and he crossed the room toward Newt. “Mr. Scamander, sir!” he spoke in a loud, rough voice. Newt stood to greet the boy, who stopped at the table with a glint in his eye.

Newt stayed on his feet for a moment, taking in the initial shock of the boy’s great size, but then averted his gaze and said, “Rubeus, yes, come, ah… come have a seat.” They both sat down, Rubeus taking in Newt’s presence.

“Mr. Scamander, sir, it’s such ‘n honor, sir. I can’t tell ya how surprised I was to git yer owl yesterday, sir. Bin lookin’ forward to this meetin’ so much, I kept the other boys in my dormitory up all night—” Rubeus suddenly realized he’d been talking too much and stopped short.

Newt smiled slightly, but kept his gaze mostly averted, only glancing occasionally at Rubeus. “I realize this must be a little out of the ordinary, Rubeus. I admit it’s also a bit outside my comfort level, meeting like this. I do not usually get along with people very well; I much prefer creatures.”

The glint in Rubeus’s eye shone bright. “Tha’s me as well, sir. I on’y started my Care of Magical Creatures class this year, but it’s the best part o’ Hogwarts so far!”

“Yes, actually, that’s where I noticed you,” said Newt. “I was at Hogwarts this week, visiting my old friend Silvanus Kettleburn, your Care of Magical Creatures professor.”

Rubeus frowned. “Really, sir? I din’t see you there.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t have noticed me; I made sure I was out of sight of students. Or at least, most of them…. But I did enjoy watching the students interact with the creatures. I found it rather… entertaining.” Newt looked up at Rubeus and smiled.

Rubeus laughed, recalling how several students in his class had gotten burned from blast-ended skrewts. He relaxed a little in his chair.

“You, on the other hand,” Newt continued, “mastered those creatures with spectacular care. You have a great talent with magical creatures, don’t you?”

Rubeus was taken aback at the compliment. He opened his mouth, but something caught in his throat. He closed his mouth and looked down at his hands, a small smile on his face.

“You actually remind me a lot of myself at your age, except for the fact that, well, I had a lot more experience with magical creatures prior to coming to Hogwarts. My mother was a Hippogriff breeder, you see, and I assisted her on a daily basis growing up.”

Newt paused for a moment, and then continued. “I suppose this is why I met with you today. You have a lot of potential, Rubeus, but you lack the experience I had at your age. So today, I wanted to provide you with a … leg up.”

Newt reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He handed it to Rubeus, who held it carefully in his hands. “You can open it,” Newt said, smiling.

Rubeus opened the box to reveal a yellow spherical egg roughly the size of a chicken egg. “What is it?” he asked.

“It’s an Acromantula egg,” Newt responded, “a rare breed of spider. Though they start out small, they have the potential to grow to a tremendous size: perhaps the size of a large dog, or even greater.”

Rubeus began to get very excited. “Where does it come from? What does it eat? What kind of home does it need? How—?”

Newt cut him off. “I’m not going to tell you any of that. That is part of the experience that I’m giving you. But I will tell you this: the Acromantula is not dangerous while it is small, but it can be quite dangerous as it grows over the years. This gives you plenty of time to train it properly so that it does not become a risk to anyone’s safety.”

Rubeus became very worried. “How can I do that? I’ve never taken care of something like this before! What if things get out of hand?”

Newt paused a moment. “Can I tell you a secret? I’ve trained many beasts over the years. Thousands of them. And one rule is always the same. The trick to training any beast is to know how to calm it. Discover whatever calms our little friend here, and you’ll have no problem training it.”

Rubeus smiled weakly, but still looked worried.

“One other thing,” Newt added. “It may be a good idea to keep it out of sight of any of the teachers and students at Hogwarts. I’m afraid it might frighten them. I have confidence in you, Rubeus, that you are up to the challenge of raising it, even if others at Hogwarts are not.”

Great tears began to well up in Rubeus’s eyes. He sniffed and said, “Thank you, sir. Thank you! I was beginning to think I was… less of a wizard, if you know what I mean. Since I’m not too good at the schoolwork, ‘n I’m so clumsy. It’s nice to have someone lookin’ out for me, ya know?”

“Well, many people are _people_ people,” said Newt. “You and I, we are _creature_ people. I can see that, you can see that, and I know that at least one other person at Hogwarts can see that.”

Rubeus wiped his eyes and frowned. “Really? Who?”

Newt shifted in his seat and looked at his clock. “Er, no matter, really. Listen, I best be off. I’m travelling to America tomorrow and there are still things to do before I take off.” He gathered his things and stood to leave. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Rubeus. Take good care of the Acromantula.”

As Newt crossed the room, Rubeus called out, “I won’t let you down, Mr. Scamander, sir. I promise!”

Newt exited the Hog’s Head and braced as he met the icy wind and snow. Before he took five steps, he heard someone call out, “Mr. Scamander!”

Muttering under his breath about perhaps using a disguise the next time he’s in Hogmeade, Newt turned around to see a young man with dark hair walk up to him. Newt recognized him but failed to remember his name. “Ah, yes, you’re the young lad who approached me yesterday as I was observing the Care of Magical Creatures classes. Thanks to you, I now know I need to hide myself better.”

The young man replied, “No matter, sir, I’m a bit more… perceptive than most.”

There was something about this young man that made Newt feel uneasy. “Well, good to see you again.” Newt turned to leave, but the young man stopped him.

“What sort of creature did you give to Rubeus, sir?”

Newt froze in his tracks. “Young man, you need not concern yourself with it. I have my full confidence in Rubeus that he’ll be able to handle the creature, and so should you. You were absolutely right when you pointed out to me yesterday that Rubeus has a gift. A gift like that cannot be constrained by rules set by a school, even a fine school such as Hogwarts. I trust you will keep it to yourself that I provided a creature to Rubeus?”

The young man smiled. “Certainly, sir. I hope that you will also not make it known that I was the one who suggested you should give him one?”

Newt hesitated, and then nodded, averting his gaze, as always.

The young man appeared very pleased. “Thank you, Mr. Scamander. All the best on your travels.” He turned to leave.

Newt called out, “Thank you, er… I’m very sorry but I don’t remember your name. Tim, was it?”

“Tom,” called the young man over his shoulder. “Tom Riddle.”

Newt watched Tom as he strode through a group of Hogwarts students who had just come out of Honeydukes Sweet Shop, before turning on his heel and disapparating.


End file.
